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Misericordia in Motion – Team 5

The goal of our project was to partner with Misericordia Heart of Mercy and provide donations and service to help bring awareness and further contribute to their cause. Our team participated in two service events for Misericordia as well as raised donations and awareness through social media and online outlets. We hosted an event with a family-friendly movie for residents and the general public which also included other activities such as yoga, dancing, face-painting and a silent auction to generate monetary donations to Misericordia and also interact with and engage the community. Four of our team members also volunteered at the Greenhouse Inn for Sunday brunch at Misericordia’s campus restaurant. Our group maximized online donations through the implementation of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This social media exposure and personal networks brought significant online donations through our FirstGiving.com page as well as provided valuable awareness to the work done at Misericordia.

Charity Information:

Misericordia is a Chicago-based not-for-profit corporation serving persons with developmental disabilities. Misericordia serves more than 600 people through a wide variety of programs. The Mission Statement of Misericordia is to “support individuals with developmental disabilities in maximizing their level of independence and self-determination within an environment that fosters spirituality, dignity, respect and enhancement of quality of life. We promote development of natural family and community support, community awareness, education and advocacy.” Misericordia offers a continuum of care based on the needs of the individual. They also offer peace of mind to the families of residents since they know their loved one is cared for in a way that will enhance their life. Donations allow Misericordia to offer more than just room and board for residents and offer them exceptional programs, such as intervention by physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists.

Success Metrics:

Goal #1: Generate $3,000.00 in revenue

Our group was able to produce $2,795.00 in revenue and we reached 93% of our intended goal. This was amazing as approximately 70% of our revenue was generated entirely online through our personal/corporate networks and social media outreach. Through many in-kind donations and resources we were able to minimize expenses to $30 and the entire remaining balance will be donated to Misericordia.

Goal #2: Provide 48 hours of service

Our group was able to produce 58 hours of service to Misericordia through two service events. The first service event had a family-friendly movie for residents and the general public which also included other activities such as yoga, dancing, face-painting and a silent auction. At this event we had approximately 60 attendants including 45 Misericordia residents. Four of our team members also volunteered at the Greenhouse Inn for Sunday brunch at Misericordia’s campus restaurant.

Goal #3: Have a social media reach through 4,000 impressions

Our group was able to produce over 175,000 impressions! Our original objective was to produce 750 likes and 3,000 reach on Facebook, 25 retweets on Twitter, 25 hearts on Instagram, and 10 snaps on Snapchat or approximately 4,000 impressions. By combining all of our social media exposure through the listed social media outlets, including LinkedIn, our group was able to far exceed our original goal by producing over 175,000 impressions. Each impression provides awareness and recognition for the valuable work Misericordia does.

Advice for Future Teams:

Defining individual responsibilities and workflows is key. By having individual ownership, everyone was held accountable and felt that their contributions were part of a collective goal.

Decide on a goal or mission and stick to it. It is imperative to have a clear and attainable scope for your project. Scope creep can be easily overlooked and before you know it you have a completely different project.

Have an online presence. With the various conflicts people have whether it be family, other classes, work, etc it is very difficult to get everyone in one physical location. Our group utilized Google Docs and Google Hangouts to make sure that more people are able to participate no matter where. In addition, our group took advantage of online donations as part of our online presence.

Lessons Learned:

Having a team mission is critical. By understanding what it is your team wants to accomplish makes other decisions much easier. For example, when venue conflicts arose our team knew that the involvement and engagement of Misericordia residents was more important and this ultimately prevented us from changing venues.

Continue to monitor risk and make any updates for new risks that may occur. With so many variables in the field project it is important to have contingency plans. Having an effective risk management plan allows for your team to be proactive in dealing with future issues and have a proper response to overcome the issue.

Utilize an effective communication strategy. There are many applications groups can use to make communication easier such as the app Slack. Setting some rules of communication and having a proper way of communicating allows for the group to work together more effectively. In addition, this will help eliminate some redundancies in communication such as email overload.

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10 thoughts on “Misericordia in Motion – Team 5”

Thanks for sharing your group’s event. It looks like your group had similar struggles that we had with finding an effective communication strategy. I know that with all of the different avenues available for delivering information there can be some lost information or difficulty of sourcing information when needed. Do you believe that utilizing an App like Slack that this would be streamlined?

Undoubtedly! In reviewing the last blogs of many groups, I saw that a recurring theme was communication difficulties. If I have one tangible take away from this class, it is to definitely familiarize myself with some of the on line apps!

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful experience, and especially for giving advice to future teams. I especially liked your advice about utilizing an online presence. Our group has already realized face to face meetings will be rather difficult and we definitely plan on utilizing Google docs and hangouts. I also really appreciate the advice that you and other groups have given about accountability and division of labor, as this is crucial to the success of any project.
Thanks again and best of luck on the rest of your MBA!

This was great to read. Going into this project this quarter, I feel like this helps outline how on top of everything our group will need to be with all of our deadlines and deliverables and the importance of communicating clearly throughout the process. Our group has some very ambitious goals and going over how successful your group was makes it seem less daunting and more attainable.

What a cool effort. The movie and pictures give this project a nice personal touch. I think this connection with the charity effort is important to actually “visualize” the impact of the financial and physical efforts to the charitable cause. The event this group did was great and our group will do something similar. I also liked the social media presence that this group presents; something that is essential in this day to engage with the young audience.

Absolutely awesome job on the social media success. At times I feel like we have begun relying on social media impact too much, but it’s become such a powerful FREE (well besides one’s time off course) tool that it’s almost a shame not utilizing it. There are so many wonderful charities out there that it could be difficult to select just one to focus efforts on. Our group decided to work with St. Baldrick’s because of a heart breaking video I saw on Facebook that definitely hit home considering that two of our team members have babies. Congratulations on reaching most of your goal in support of a great organization.

I first heard about Misericordia last year, 2014, downtown Chicago. My husband and I were walking down Michigan Avenue and on every corner there was a group of around 2-3 volunteers asking for donations. We stopped by, donated some money, and chatted with the volunteers. Right there we learned a lot what Misericordia was all about. From that time on we support Misericordia in any way we can. So, when I saw the post about Misericordia I went straight to it. It is a fantastic organization, thank you so much for your post. How great that you were able to get so close to reaching your goal!!! It took a lot of hard work and coordination, but you did a great job. Thank you for sharing your advice for future teams. My team and I are starting the project and any we greatly appreciate any advice we can get.

Your group did an excellent job emphasizing the scope of the project along with managing all phases in the project life cycle. You selected a great organization to work with and clearly defined your objectives through targeted fund-raising efforts, generating awareness on the issue, and volunteering your time at the service events. Your efforts in the planning phase are evident, as imense coordination must be done among all group members to achieve the outlined goals. Also, setting up a family-friendly fund-raising event was a great choice for not limiting the participants based on age restrictions so everyone could contribute. Also very impressive execution with the event and being so active in multiple social media channels to raise awareness and beat your expectations of impressions. Finally, the closing stage where you were given a chance to reflect on the impact your group made for the cause. It’s always great to highlight metrics and use them as a gauge of success and evaluate where you ended up versus the predetermined goal.

Thank you for being so thorough with your blog post. My group is scheduled to meet tomorrow to go over our project and among other things, setting up goals and devising a strategy for online marketing. I like your idea of utilizing an effective communication strategy and with so many messaging applications available, it should’ve been an obvious choice but that’s not something you would consider since it’s used more for personal communication.

Anyone listen to WGN Radio? More specifically, Lou Manfredini? This is where I first heard of Misericordia and learned about what Misericordia does as a whole. I recommended this charity to my MBA project group to potentially help out with, because of what they do. However, we’ve gone another route, but the messages posted regarding group organization and the communication needed to be successful are lessons to learn from. I hope that my group can handle these tasks efficiently.

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful experience, and especially for giving advice to future teams. I especially liked your advice about utilizing an online presence. Our group has already realized face to face meetings will be rather difficult and we definitely plan on utilizing Google docs and hangouts. I also really appreciate the advice that you and other groups have given about accountability and division of labor, as this is crucial to the success of any project.
Thanks again and best of luck on the rest of your MBA!